Family Hand Art During Covid-19

Due to Coronavirus Covid-19, many children have to remain at home to learn. Some are homeschooled and others attend classes remotely. As a result of this virus, and the need to practice social distancing, wear a mask, and wash hands frequently to help prevent the spread of it, many hands-on teaching and learning experiences have shifted.

Take art for instance. When I taught elementary school, there was something special about observing the artwork process of students up close and personal, as they painted, drew, etc. I was mindful not to make statements about what I thought the piece of art represented. Instead, I engaged with my little artists and asked them to verbally share in their own words what they were creating. Furthermore, I was deliberate in offering my conjectures about the colors they chose, lines or curves they used, etc. rather than sum it up and say, “Your artwork is great!”

I am grateful to my graduate school professors at Bank Street College of Education for teaching me how to teach Art to young children. It was one of my most favorite classes! Now, as I homeschool Sammy, who LOVES art in a variety of forms, I reflect back on my years as a teacher and graduate student, and make sure to implement these same methodologies and best practices. I am also appreciative of my mother, Sammy’s MiMi Ma who is an artist! Her medium is painting, drawing, and sculpture. And Randy’s father, Sammy’s grandfather Pop is also an artist! His medium was graphic arts.

So quite naturally, like many who are homeschooling their children or teaching remotely, I constantly search the Internet for ideas to create art experiences not only for Sammy, but for the entire family as well. My heart smiled when I came across a beautiful image of the hands of a child and his/her parents. I immediately thought this was something we could do. When I saw all that it entailed, I also loved the fact that it was hands-on, messy, and fun!

Moreover, I admired that this family art project would be collaborative. Add to this, it would be an everlasting reminder of Sammy’s small 5 year old hand 🖐🏽 in comparison to ours, for years to come!

The art supplies needed were minimal. All that was required were small, white canvases, vibrant acrylic paints, and a paintbrush. Randy’s hand was the first to be painted and he chose his favorite color purple. Sammy observed me as I painted his daddy’s hand purple. He kept chuckling and could not wait until it was his turn. However, the paint needed to dry in between each of us painting our hands, so I decided it would be best to wait two days in between hand paintings to give the canvas time to dry. I went next and chose yellow. Yellow is such a spirited color. I also thought yellow next to purple would look amazing! (Perhaps it was also because Randy’s Omega Psi Phi Fraternity colors are purple and gold) LOL Randy and Sammy helped to gently place my hand on the canvas on top of Randy’s. We wanted to position each hand so that one could see not only the difference in colors, but the difference in size. Finally, two days later, it was Sammy’s time to have his hand painted. He squealed with delight at the thought of having his hand painted and said the bristles from the paintbrush tickled his fingers. The color he chose was red; a favorite of his.

And in WatchMonkeyMama fashion, I then suggested Sammy paint his little 🦶🏽 foot! Afterall, a framed hand needed a framed foot adjacent to it on our wall!

What I loved most about this family art experience, is that it was simple, fun, collaborative, engaging, and a bit of a stress reliever in the thick of Covid-19, as we created happy memories.

Perhaps, your family might like painting your hands and feet too!